


The Kids Are Alright

by jamsenpie



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dialogue Heavy, F/M, M/M, My artwork, Past Alexander Hamilton/Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-12 05:29:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13540707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamsenpie/pseuds/jamsenpie
Summary: The children prove that they are, without a doubt, Alexander Hamilton and Eliza Schuyler's kids. John slowly, if a little apprehensively, finds his way back into their lives. Alexander struggles to climb out of the hole he dug himself into. Eliza takes her time.





	1. Un.

__

**(1)**

“Okay, I called this meeting today-“

“You know, this type of stuff was fun when we were five, but-“

“-to discuss the very serious issue that is-“

“-but now it’s just kind of sad and overused. Not to mention-”

“-our father. Shut up, James.” Alex snapped.

“…lame.”

Philip, leaning on a table, straightens up, brows furrowed.

“Our father? Alex, what’s wrong with our father?”

Angelica sits up from the couch, “Says the son who hasn’t been to his place since the move.”

“Is he okay? I heard that he just got a raise, right?”

“Nothing surprising there, Phil, dad’s always been a workaholic and that’s kinda the problem,” Alex commented, walking over to sit on the carpet next to James.

“Yeah, the problem is with his personal life, you know, like his relationships, or lack thereof,” Angelica chimed in.

“Just his health, tbh” James spelled out.

“Personal life? Wait, is this meeting about me, beca-“

“Behold the mindset of the prodigal eldest child. Not everything revolves around you and your angst-ridden daddy issues, Phil.”

Philip glared at Alex, who brushed it off with ease of experience, continuing,

“But I see what you’re saying,” he turned to James, “last time I stayed over, he didn’t even notice me walk in his office to watch him work at two in the morning. He just kept growling at a piece of paper for, kid you not, thirty minutes. When he finally looked at me, he just nodded and went to the kitchen to get coffee. I legit think that he thought that I was just a hallucination.”

“Also, have you seen what he’s been eating? The refrigerator and trash were filled with so many takeout boxes. Plus, when I was looking for some toothpaste, he said that he’d run out and was meaning to buy some for a while now—a **while now** —just how long was he living without toothpaste?!” Angelica gasped out.

“Gross.”

“Well, he had mouthwash, at least,” Angelica added, as if that made it better.

“…Okay, so our dad is a bit of a slob, nothing new there, his office was always a mess and mom’s always been the tidy one that kept that disaster relatively contained.”

“His so called “organized mess,” and yeah, but seeing dad like this makes me wonder if mom was just naturally that way or if she had to adapt to avoid certain perils—the hoarding kind.”

“I go with adapt because there’s no way mom would’ve seen all that mess and not have it conflict with her character,” Alex mused.

“I say she’s always been the tidy one and she just got hit with the whole “opposites attract” cliché,” Angelica added in her two cents.

Philip shook his head, walking over behind the couch to lean down and rest his arms on the back cushion just to the right of Angelica, “Nature versus nurture aside, we’re getting off topic here… unless this is the main reason why we’re all here. If so, then I really don’t have the time for it.”

“Well, no, so the thing is that ever since my last visit, h-”

“Short story: Dad needs to get some,” Angelica said, cutting Alex off who, after a moment, nodded in agreement.

“Basically.”

Philip’s cheeks colored.

“T-This is inappropriate! We can’t go around having secret meetings to talk about our parents-…”

“Sex life?”

“Angelica!”

“Or lack thereof.”

“You’re thirteen!” Philip practically screeched at Alex, who just stuck out his tongue.

James and Angelica snickered.

Clearing his throat, Philip continued, “Okay, so I don’t understand how dad’s lack of tidiness means that he needs to engage in… a relationship,” he carefully phrased.

Sobering up a bit, Angelica pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around it, tilting her head down on her knees to look up at Philip.

“You don’t understand because you’ve never visited,” Philip flinched, “I honestly don’t think he’s been out of his place since the divorce and, when he does, it’s only to go to work and back, with a few coffee stops here and there.”

“He’s isolated himself and I don’t think anybody visits except for us,” Alexander frowned.

“Uncle Herc comes by now and again, sometimes Uncle Laf, but they’ve been pretty busy with their own lives to do much than go out to dinner or lunch once or twice every month,” Angelica said.

“Yeah, so not even counting them, we’re really the only ones who visit on a regular basis.”

“And sometimes, he’s too busy to even make time, so we kind of just stand there and watch him run around the place. Mom tries to hide it but even she’s getting worried, if not for him then for how it’s affecting us,” Alex glared at a vase by the door.

Philip grimaced.

“So he’s lonely and doesn’t even know it because he’s so busy with work or he knows it too well, so he’s drowning it out with work. If our presence isn’t enough to get him to slow down and reevaluate, what makes you guys think that meeting a stranger and going through that whole process would?”

“A challenge?”

“ _Our_ presence?” Angelica whispered accusingly under her breath.

“Dad always did love a challenge,” James mused.

“Will anybody even look at dad with the way he is now?”

Angelica guffawed at the implications.

Phillp shook his head, explaining, “I mean, it doesn’t even sound like he’s looking-”

“And he’s not exactly been dressing to impress lately,” Angelica added.

“So…”

“So.”

James raises his hand, “Why don’t we just talk to him about it? Maybe then, he’ll take better care of himself.”

“We have, on many occasions, J, but he doesn’t really take it seriously.”

“Yeah, just puts on a guilty smile and a promise to do better, which he only holds onto until we leave. Then the whole cycle starts all over again the next time one of us visits and complains,” Angelica pouts.

“What if we all go over there and talk to him about it? As a group.”

“Like an intervention?”

“…Yes?”

Angelica sighs, “Now that’s really backing him into a corner. He’ll feel even worse than he already does if he thinks he’s making his kids feel this way.”

“Yeah, I don’t… I don’t want to corner and upset him into complying into anything. I doubt that that’ll solve things.” Philip said cautiously.

“Huh, that’s rich, coming from you,” Angelica muttered loud enough for Philip to hear, who frowned.

“Ang, I-“

“Why don’t you talk to him, Phil? Maybe he’ll really listen if it’s you!”

Philip gave pause before shaking his head, saying, “I don’t think so, James. I haven’t really seen him in a while so…”

“Yeah, let’s have the son who’s avoided going over to dad’s for well over two years to suddenly waltz on in giving relationship advice,” Angelica mused, which Philip decidedly ignored.

Alex scratched his head, “Okay, I’m still confused. So we know that dad’s basically a hermit crab now and that maybe dating will cheer him up again but… I mean, how exactly are we going to help? Just walk around showing his picture to strangers asking if they want to date our grumpy pops?”

“Setting up an online dating profile could be fun.”

“Ew, no.”

“Dad doesn’t really like people,” Philip pointed out.

“Dad hates most people!”

“If he hates most people, then why don’t we find someone that he already likes?” James inquired.

“Where can we find them?”

“Do they even exist?”

Alexander Jr. and Angelica jokingly asked in unison. They air-high-fived.

James pouted, explaining, “He has friends.”

“Yeah, two.”

“Both of which are happily married themselves.”

“Well… didn’t really stop him last time,” Philip muttered bitterly to himself.

“How about at work?” Alex continued, not having heard his brother.

“I don’t think he likes anybody at work.”

“Every time he talks about the people at work, it’s only to complain about them.”

“What’re you guys doing in here?”

Eliza opens the door, peering inside and smiling with amusement at the sight of her children huddled in the home office room.

“Siblings only meeting mom! Top secret stuff!” Alex hollered.

Eliza rolls her eyes, “Well then, you won’t mind looking after your little brother while I go start on dinner, okay?”

“No problem mom, come here John, sit next to your big sis Ang,” Angelica smiles, waving her arms at John and catching him as he runs towards her, lifting him up and placing him on her lap. Philip smiles and lifts a hand to pat John’s hair.

“Okay, I’ll call you guys when dinner’s ready. Have fun with your secret meeting.”

“Yup!”

Angelica takes out her phone and opens an app before handing it over for John to play with. Alex stared.

“So where were w-“

“James, I don’t think we’d be getting anywhere anytime soon, maybe we should just end the conversation here and just…I don’t know.” Philip finished half-heartedly.

Alex stared at John, made eye contact with Angelica, who raised an eyebrow at him in question.

“Uncle John.”

“What?” Angelica asked. James twitched.

Alexander Jr. grinned, “Uncle Jo-ouch! James! What’s the deal!”

James ignored him and went in for another pinch, cheeks pinking slightly.

Angelica’s eyes widened a bit while Philip frowned in confusion. John giggled at the phone screen.

“What about Uncle John?”

James shook his head, pushing Alex away as he tried to swat his arm in revenge, “It’s nothing.”

Philips eyebrows furrowed, “Doesn’t look like nothing.”

“It’s nothing, Phil,” Angelica whispered, staring intently at the game little John was playing.

Philip was lost and turned to look at the only person willing to talk.

“Alex?”

“Alex, no-”

“Drop it!”

Alex ignored Angelica and James, jumping out of his brother’s reach and sitting on top of the desk.

“I meant that we should call Uncle John for dad!”

Philip considered this for a second, and why the topic of their estrange uncle would fluster his siblings so much, before shaking his head, “We haven’t really seen him in a while and I don’t think him and dad are in the best of terms right now.”

“Yeah, but dad’s single now!”

“So?”

“So dad should date Uncle John!” Alex finished, dodging a throw pillow courtesy of Angelica, who is now very red in the face. John, the five year old, looks around at his siblings after hearing his name.

Alex made a funny face at John, who laughed and waved at his big brother in return.

Philip choked on air.

“D-Date?! What do you mean date?! He’s our Uncle, Alex, and he-s… he’s…”

“Gay?”

“Yeah, but that’s beside the point. Just because Uncle John is gay doesn’t mean that he wants to date our dad. They were best friends! Emphasis on the ‘were.’”

“You can still be in love with your best friend.”

“W-…Where did this idea even come from,” Philip remembers his siblings earlier reaction and rephrases the question, adding with suspicion, “What do you guys know that I don’t?”

He makes accusatory eye contact with each of his siblings, ending it with John, who just reached up to tug at his sleeve with a carefree grin.

They all avoided his eyes, except for Alex, who pointedly looks at Angelica, “Well, I know what James and I know, but I don’t know what Ang knows.”

Angelica looks up to glare at Alex then risked a quick glance at Philip before sighing. She repositions John on her lap.

“The letters.”

“Us too!” Alex exclaimed. James hid his face between his folded arms.

“Letters?” Philip raised an eyebrow.

“Alex and I found some letters a long time ago that one time,” James mumbled from his balled up state on the carpeted floor. Alex waved his hand in a so-and-so gesture. Philip looked suspiciously at James before looking to Alex for an explanation, who just shrugged and hopped off the desk to sit on the edge of the couch closest to James.

“We technically found it after we spent some time snooping around.”

“How…wait, why would you be snooping for letters? Are these letters from Uncle John? When did all of this happen, exactly?”

“Two years ago?” James nodded and Alex continued, “We were helping with the move and was snooping around dad’s office and found this box filled with letters from both Uncle John and dad.” Alex looks to Angelica, “How do you know?”

Angelica groaned and James rolled his eyes, “Cat’s out of the bag sis, might as well spill.”

“Okay…so it was a couple of years ago. I saw dad get this package and then afterwards he was really upset and trying to get in touch with Uncle John and stuff. Well, he was really upset and quiet and I got curious so I went and looked for it in his office after he fell asleep the next day.” She looked to Alex and clarified, “But I just saw the letters dad wrote to Uncle John—apparently he sent it all back to him after that fight they had—I didn’t see any letters that Uncle wrote to dad, though.”

“He probably just put it all in one pile later on.”

“Wait, wait, how did I not know about this? None of you thought to tell me?”

“You were too caught up with starting your freshman year in high school at time. Then before you could even calm down we found out about dad and with all the mess, and therapy, and feelings and stuff, it just didn’t feel like something I should be talking about,” Angelica said quietly, propping her chin on top of John’s head. Alex and James nodded in agreement.

Bracing himself, since the past ten minutes gave him context as to where this is heading already, Philip asked, “W-What were on those letters?”

“Love.”

“Deep, cheesy, ‘wherefore art thou, Romeo’ kind of love letters,” Alex added. Philip looked at him in wonder, since this is the only part in the conversation his mind isn’t stalling on. His dad and Uncle John…

“You said you were 11 at the time, how on earth did you absorb that kind of information? And especially you, James.”

James turned to Philip with a blank look, “I’m not an idiot, Phil.”

“Once you read that one line where dad was trying to convince Uncle J about his love through actions or words or something and stuff, everything else pretty much falls into place,” Alex shrugged. Angelica groaned, burying her face on her little brother’s hair.

“Ugh, yeah, thanks for the reminder.” Looking up at Philip, she said, “I’m pretty sure that most of the letters dated back before dad and mom even met, though, or at least before they started dating…so that’s…something. The latest date I could find was around your first birthday, I think. I’m pretty sure.”

“…So…what you guys are saying is that…dad and our Uncle John, who our little brother is presumably named after, had a thing?”

“Plus, and don’t get mad at me for saying this, but how do we know that they stopped? I mean, email was a thing back then too,” Alex questioned.

“Can we please not dive deeper into this than we already have? I don’t even remember the point of this little get together anymore.”

“Fixing dad,” Said James.

“Hooking him and Uncle J up.” Alex poked James’ head.

Philip took a steadying, deep breath.

“Why, why, **why** do you think it’s a good idea for our dad to date our Uncle?”

Alex straightened up.

“Yeah, okay, so dad and Uncle J already know each other. Check. Dad likes him; he even says so in the letter. Check. And Uncle John liked him too, otherwise they would’ve never been friends in the first place. Check. They have history. Check. He already knows us— his kids. Check. Dad’s single. Check. Uncle Laurens is single. Check!”

“How on earth do you know about his relationship status?”

“Facebook, duh.”

“When?!”

“Oh! They could have totally slipped into each other’s DM.”

“That sounds way too gross, please stop talking.”

Philip cleared his throat.

“This is ridiculous. I can’t even…I mean, are you forgetting the part where they haven’t, to our knowledge, spoken to each other for over 5 years? How about those so-called letters Uncle sent back? That sounds like closure to me.”

Alex pouted, sighing, “I don’t know. It just seems like an easier road to take than finding a complete stranger and starting from scratch.”

“Yeah, ‘cause god knows that dad doesn’t have time for that.”

“Doing any of these—even thinking and talking about doing something about this—is a road none of us should really be taking in the first place!” Philip was exasperated. He needed time to himself to digest all of this information.

“You’re just saying that ‘cause you don’t want to talk to dad,” James mumbled.

“You’re still mad at him,” Alex nodded in agreement.

Philip leaned back as if struck.

“This isn’t about me! I’m just saying that it’s not really our responsibility to dig whatever rut dad’s fallen into! He’s a grown-up; he should be able to take care of himself.” Philip looked to Angelica for validation, who just frowned at him before looking down at the game John was playing.

“He doesn’t have anybody else, Philip…he’s lost.”

There was a moment of heavy silence.

“Maybe we should tell mom a-“

“No! Mom shouldn’t have to deal with any of his problems anymore,” Philip harshly barked out, making James flinch in surprise.

“…You should visit him, Phil,” Alex quietly suggested, head bowed down and placing his hand on James’ shoulder.

“Yeah, Phil, hasn’t it been long enough?” Angelica avoided eye contact and hugged John closer to her.

“…”

From the living room, Eliza shouted, “Dinner’s ready! Come here and help me set the table!”

The conversation was dropped.

**(2)**

“So Uncle J is still single, huh?”

“Yep, I just checked his facebook while you were talking and scrolled to his info,” Alex nodded.

“I don’t think dad has an account, though,” James cut in.

“Yeah he does, he made one a long time ago but he doesn’t really use it anymore.”

“He’s still active on Twitter though, there’s that.”

“Which he only uses to bash the president and a guy from work,” Angelica added with a grin.

“Hm…nope! Doesn’t look like Uncle John has a twitter…oh! He has an Instagram!”

Angelica leaned forward to look at the phone screen.

“Dad doesn’t have an Instagram.”

“He’s really good at drawing… wait, how recent is that picture of him?”

“A week ago, it looks like” Alex grinned up at Angelica, “still have that crush on him?”

Angelica blushed and shoved her brother forward.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it just me, or are there a lot of single father!John vs. the world and not enough of Ham's kids being involved or actually existing in Lams fics? If there are, please rec it to me! I have a mighty thirst. Anyway, saw this artwork by ziksua of the Hamilton family and things just took off from there.
> 
> No real plans as to how this will all play out, these characters are all just shouting in my head and I'm struggling to keep up. I know it's dialogue heavy and doesn't get that specific when it comes to who's speaking but I'd let you're imagination fill in that gap (it doesn't really matter who says who, if it's not specified).
> 
> My form of writing may not stay consistent as this story goes on (if it goes on). I'm already pretty sure that there are going to be some parts that are going to be in summary form so...heads up. This is going to be a very informal fic.
> 
> Enjoy?


	2. Deux.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> James seems way too smart for a ten year old. I don't really know what ten year old's sound like, but I don't think it's this. Easy fix: he's a Hamilton with pride (just go with it).

**(3)**

“Hey, where’s Phil right now?”

“Probably up in his room, pacing around, and trying to pump himself up to visit dad,” Alex mused.

“Okay, good,” Alex and James gave her a look. “I found something.”

“Go on.”

“Well, not really found something, more like…recovered?”

“Isn’t that the same as found?”

“Dad’s old facebook password,” Angelica finished with a glint in her eyes. Matching ones manifested in her two brothers.

**(4)**

“What should we say?”

“Hey?”

“That’s too forward!” Angelica hissed.

“…Okay… heya, pal, remember me? The old flame? Anyways, want to grab a couple of pints and catch up like the good old, gay days of our childhood?” Alex stated with a monotone voice and a neutral expression.

“Dad’s bi.”

“Not the point I was trying to make.”

“But just saying hi out of the blue after five years seems way too informal and…you know?” Angelica seemed to despair.

“Ang, are you sure your little crush on our uncle isn’t piggybacking with us pretending to be dad to reconnect?”

Angelica shoved him to the side.

**(5)**

“Whoa, okay, not a drill, Philip just went out to visit dad. James went with him!”

“Holy shit! I didn’t think he’d do it!” Angelica jumped off her chair to read the text James sent Alex.

“Why didn’t he tell us? I would’ve come with!”

“Maybe that’s exactly why he didn’t tell us. He knows we’d come with just for the drama.”

“Pfft, whatever, James better record the whole thing,” Alex said, looking down and sending rapid fire text messages to James.

“Make sure to tell him to get a good view of Philip’s face!” Angelica leaned in to read. Alex nudged her side.

“Do you think they’ll cry, scream, or make-up?”

“Yes.”

“All of the above it is.”

**(6)**

“He’s been locked in there all day…”

“Should we-“

“James, Alex, come over here and leave your brother alone,” Eliza called from the end of the hallway with a serious expression, motioning them towards her.

They scattered.

**(7)**

“I’m not mad…I was never-.. I…”

“I know.”

“I told him I wasn’t mad…”

“We know you’re not.”

“But…I don’t-..I don’t know. He just looked so- and I didn’t know what to say…I-… I don’t know how I feel.”

“That’s okay.”

“It’s not easy for me…I can’t just shake it off like you do.”

“It’s not just choosing between love and hate, Phil… you can feel both and a million other things in between. I hope you know that we’re just as confused.”

“I just don’t understand-.. why? Why? I-.. I don’t hate him. I never hated him, not really... I just don’t…”

Angelica held him tighter.

**(8)**

“Hey guys.”

“Hey… are you?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

“Yeah.”

“So…”

“So.” A pause, then, “So, we need to help dad out with this.”

“With…? Uncle John?” James asked, unsure. Philip’s cheeks reddened slightly as he nodded.

“We could start with that, yeah.”

“Way ahead of you!” Alex grinned. Angelica and James both scrambled to look over their brother’s shoulder.

“What do you mean?” Philip asked accusingly.

“I mean that I already sent Uncle John a message on facebook last week.”

“What?! What did you say?!” Angelica made a grab for Alex’s phone and scrolled through facebook to read over the message.

“Wait, you sent Uncle John a message? What did you say?”

“I sent him a message using _dad’s_ account on facebook, yes.”

Philip’s eyes widened, shouting in a panic, “What did you say?!”

“Hi.” James read out loud.

“Hi?! **HI?!** Oh my god, Alex, you should’ve asked us first before sending something so reckless?!” Angelica was pacing back and forth.

“Saying ‘hi’ is reckless?”

“Yes! After five years, yes, Alex, it is very reckless!”

“I thought I was being smart, actually.”

“A smartass, you mean?”

“I mean that all we know is that they had a fight a couple of years ago and we haven’t really heard from him since. Not directly, anyway, if you count those holiday cards that conveniently leaves dad out. If they have been talking recently, then ‘hi’ is a perfect conversation starter to test the water.”

“He hasn’t replied yet,” James noticed.

“No, but that typing notification popped up a lot during the week; I was keeping track.”

“Wait, wait, are we seriously leaving the catfishing to our thirteen year-old brother?” Angelica looked at Philip for answers. Alex did too.

“If anybody should talk to Uncle J, it should be you, Phil.”

“Why me?! I didn’t even know this was a thing until last week!” Philip’s ears turned red, taking a defensive step back.

“Well, you’re the oldest, so your vocabulary is more adult-y, you know?”

“Way to put it, Al.”

“What, it’s true? If anyone can keep up an actual adult conversation with another adult, who we’re also trying to secretly woo for another adult, it would be our poet of an older brother.”

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

“Please don’t say that in this context,” Philip paled.

Angelica looked at her brother in thought before tentatively adding, “…A lot of Philip’s poem does match the tone of some of those letters…”

“I-I’ve never even seen those letters!”

“Well, it’s up to you guys if you want to leave it up to me when-“

“If!”

“-the ball gets rolling. But John and James are out—too young— and Angelica would be too...”

Alex looked at his flustered sister who has regained her nervous pacing with renewed vigor.

“Angelica.” He concluded, turning back to Philip.

“And, as Ang pointed out, I am also too young but I won’t mind.”

“You might only be thirteen but your mind is older,” Philip mused.

“Of course, I am a Hamilton, you know.”  Alex grinned before inquiring, “So you’ll do it? Give me your phone so I can sign you into his account. His password was ‘Tomcat80’.”

“Easy enough to remember. Easier than his desktop password back then. Roschaumburg, or something?”

“Rochambeau.”

“Ditto. You think that that’s still his password?”

“Hm, doubt it, I feel like he still changes it weekly after the porn tab-incident with this one,” Angelica nudged Alex, who blushed and punched his sister’s arm.

“I just wanted to play minesweeper!”

Angelica snorted, “We all just wanted to play minesweeper.”

**(9)**

“Wake up! Wake up, wake up, wake up!”

“What the hell, Angelica!”

“He replied! Uncle John replied just now!”

“At-” Philip glanced at his phone, “-4 in the morning?”

“He said ‘hey’.”

“At 4 in the morning?”

“He could be in another time zone for all we know.” Angelica shrugged, patting at her brother’s arm for him to sit up in bed.

“That’s all he said?” Philip groaned. Angelica nodded excitedly.

“What should I say?”

“You mean what should ‘dad’ say?”

“Yeah, yeah, I mean, should I even reply right away or..?”

Philip looked at Angelica practically vibrating in anticipation before sighing, rubbing his hand on his hair, and sitting up fully, the thought of going back to sleep anytime soon abandoned.

“Should we wake Alex and James?” She asked, distractedly.

“No, we’ll just fill them in later,” Philip said, shaking his head and leaning forward to look over the message.

“Just ask how he’s doing.”

“At 4 in the morning?”

“That’s my line and do you have a better suggestion?”

“Keep him waiting a little bit longer?”

“Too late for that. It says here that you’re both online and that you’ve read his message already.”

“Shit!” Angelica threw the phone across the bed in a panic.

Philip growled out, “Angelica!” He bent over and picked up the phone, pausing briefly, and typing his response.

“Anddd, sent.”

_> AHamilton: How have you been?_

“…”

Philip gave her a look, “What?”

“It’s just… I feel like 4am conversations between old flings-“

“That’s still debatable.”

“-..You really need to read those letters.”

“I really don’t.”

“Can lead to some risqué situations,” Angelica finished.

“What?”

“I’m saying, this is kinda how booty calls start out.”

Philip jerked back, a blush quickly creeping over his cheeks, “Ang! That’s gross!” A pause and then, “Wait, who’s the booty and who calls in this scenario?”

“Dad started the conversation.”

“But Uncle John’s the one who replied at this hour.”

“Well, if we’re that lucky, then they’ll both turn out too desperate for it to really matter in the end.”

“Please don’t say things like that when you know I have to be the one to talk to our uncle.”

“Yeah, about that… how do we even go from here? Matchmaking by catfishing is thrilling and all but what’s the next step into actually getting them to meet again?”

“I honestly have no idea, I don’t even know how we got to this point exactly,” Philip sighed.

“We didn’t really think this thing through, huh.”

“Not really; I blame Alex.” Philip agreed.

“If our parents find out, we’re so screwed. Alex and James get a pass since they’re kids but-”

“Yeah, so screwed. Oh, he replied.”

“Holy shit!” Angelica practically tackles him to read what it said.

_> JohnLaurens: I’ve been good._

“That’s it? S-should we say something ba-”

“Shh, he’s still typing!”

_> JohnLaurens: You?_

“Holy shit.”

“Language,” Philip rolled his eyes despite getting pretty excited himself.

“Type something back, hurry!”

“Umm…”

A notification bell.

_ >JohnLaurens: Is something wrong?_

_Ping_

_> JohnLaurens: Why are you contacting me, Hamilton?_

“Ouch.” The siblings hissed out, wincing.

“Guess it’s not all water under the bridge. Last names are rough,” Angelica shook her head.

Philip nods in understanding as he looked at the screen. He bit his lip in uncertainty before typing up a response.

_> AHamilton: Nothing’s wrong, John._

_> AHamilton: I just wanted to talk to you._

Philip blushed.

_> AHamilton: Is that okay?_

“…Virgin,” his sister whispered in the quiet.

“Angelica!” He screeched, pushing his giggling sister off his bed.

Five minutes passed.

_Ping_

_> JohnLaurens: Go to sleep, Alexander._

John Laurens logged off.

“…Well.”

**(10)**

“What did Uncle say?”

“He said Hamilton! And, the way I imagined it, it’s like an exhausted and numb way like: _Hamilton_.” Angelica lowered the pitch of her voice.

“Burn.”

“I know.”

“How’s Philip taking the rejection?”

“Philip is right here and I wasn’t the one he said that to!”

“Aw, you can tell that he’s heart broken.”

“And it wasn’t a rejection!”

“Well, you know our Philip, when he steps in, he goes in deep.”

“Sunk straight to the bottom; didn’t even stand a chance.”

“Helpless.”

“I hate you guys.”

**(11)**

“What if…” Alexander paled, turning to James with a horrified expression. James raised his eyebrow in question.

“What if he called dad?” He whispered.

“Then you guys would’ve been in trouble already.” James shrugged.

“ _You guys_?”

“I’m ten, Alex; there are no real consequences to my actions yet.”

“Now that’s just ageist.”

“You speak to our mother with that mouth?”

Angelica ran downstairs and stood in front of them with a stricken expression, gasping, “What if Uncle John called dad?”

“I just said that!”

“Guys, this is dad we’re talking about and it’s been three days since Uncle John replied to any of our messages. If someone knows something then we would’ve already heard about it from dad,” James placated.

“Where’s Philip?”

“He’s over at dad’s place again.” Alex smiled, watching as his sister brought her phone out and quickly started texting.

“I’ll tell him to get a feel of things, see if dad knows anything.”

“That’ll make Philip look even more awkward and suspicious, just ask if anything seemed off later.”

“This is Philip _with_ dad _post_ -divorce. Awkwardness and suspiciousness are going to be his default settings for a while.” Angelica looked at the new message she received. “He says nothing’s off.”

“Let’s just drop it for now, Ang. Leave big bro alone and let him spend time with dad.”

“I know that this is a big deal for him, for us too, but I’m just letting you all know that if things go south, I’m throwing all of you under the bus.”

“I’m ten.”

“I’m thirteen!”

“…” Angelica glared at her siblings for a moment before jogging back upstairs.

**(12)**

“So what you’re saying is that…you…found the letters?”

A nod. Angelica continued.

“You…read the letters?”

Another nod.

“I’m…actually surprised he still has them,” Angelica commented.

There was some muffling from underneath the throw pillow.

“What?” Angelica asked as she lifted the pillow off of her brother’s beet red face, who avoided eye contact by turning to face the side of the couch.

“It’s obvious.”

“Huh?”

Philip covered his eyes with the palm of his hands.

“Dad’s not over Uncle John.”

“Just because he kept the letters? That doesn’t mean-”

“No, Angelica,” Philip said, sitting up and staring intently into his sister’s eyes.

 “There’s more.”

“O-kay.”

**(13)**

“He won’t tell me what he found but it’s made him even more determined to make this work,” Angelica whispered to Alex, looking over to make sure that John doesn’t wake up from the nap he was having on the carpet.

“Where is he now?”

“In his room.” A pause. “Talking to Uncle John.”

“…I’m so glad I decided to skip summer camp this year.”

**(14)**

Tuesday

_> AHamilton: [attached picture]_

_> AHamilton: Here’s a picture of your godchild. He’s getting big now._

Friday

_> AHamilton: Hi._

_> AHamilton: I was just hoping we could talk?_

_> AHamilton: John?_

_> AHamilton: You’re the closest friend I’ve got._

**(15)**

_Saturday_

_Ping_

_> JohnLaurens: fcuk u i that we  can work yingd ouy_

_Ping_

_> JohnLaurens: I tolf yoy there hwas nother eay_

_Ping_

_> JohnLaurens: but ufuc ked with both is us_

_Ping_

_> JohnLaurens: You fv to rights conetavting me again_

_Ping_

_> JohnLaurens: I tolfd yonh let ig fo_

_Ping_

_> JohnLaurens: burn in helle alender_

_Ping_

_> JohnLaurens: yoy gwer fmy closest friend to_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's really hard to fake crappy messages riddled with misspelled words when you can type pretty well without looking at the keyboard. Had to close my eyes and avoid lifting my fingers as much and now I'm worried that it's too misspelled and just comes across as "try-hard." Hooray for fiction, I guess-- an excuse that I'm going to be using for the 4th of July.
> 
> It bothers me a little that the kids don't seem to have obvious personality traits that they stick to but my own personality tend to fluctuate during conversations with my own siblings (and cousins); it's like this weird dynamic where you just sort of zip from one end of the spectrum to the other depending on where your own sibling is atm. I don't know if that just makes me purposefully antagonistic or not, ha, but it helps keep a conversation going. Despite all of that, I do hope that these characters find solid ground (personality wise) as the story goes on.


	3. Trois.

**(17)**

“He must have been so plastered.”

“It just kept on ringing last night; I thought an alarm went off.”

“What did you say to set him off like that?” Angelica asked, scrolling up to read the previous messages.

“I just,” He looked down, a little bit embarrassed, “Quoted dad.”

“From the letters?”

Philip shrugged.

“Then he probably got the reference and flipped.”

“What should we do now,” Alex asked, looking to Philip then Angelica. Philip bit his bottom lip.

“I think…that we should show dad.”

Angelica and Alex loudly disagreed.

“This is just getting…way too real and if we show this to dad, then he’d know what to do with it and take it from here. I feel like this is our last chance to walk away relatively unscathed,” Philip cut in.

“Who are you to say that?” Angelica hissed.

“I’m his son?”

“For now.”

“..What does that even mean?

“We’re not telling dad!” Angelica stated as a matter-of-fact.

“I agree. Look, Uncle John has something to be embarrassed about now, once he’s sober and re-reads this word vomit, and dad obviously did something wrong to him—surprise, surprise— so he has something to be cautious about too,” Alex explained.

“Where are you going with all of this? If you’re suggesting we blackmail two people into a relationship, one of them being our father, then I’m honestly going to disown you as my brother.”

“What?! That wasn’t what I meant, that didn’t even make sense!”

Alex scratched his head in frustration just as James entered the room with John holding his hand.

“I’m saying that I don’t think that Uncle John would ever want to bring this up when they meet again and dad’s probably composed of 90% guilt to push anymore buttons than he already has.”

“They’re adults, Alex, and this is dad we’re talking about. He can feel as guilty as he wants but that doesn’t replace the non-existent filter he has when it comes to speaking his mind!” Philip argued back. James turned John around and walked out of the room.

“I say we wait for a few more days and see,” Angelica decided. Philip and Alex shared a look before nodding.

“One week.”

**(18)**

“Hey, are you ever gonna tell us about what you read when you slept over at dad’s or what?”

“Actually, I was thinking of giving you the same courtesy you gave me when you first found out about the letters.” Philip was being petty, making Angelica roll her eyes.

“That was different and you know it. Just tell already.”

There was a pause.

“There was a journal on top of the box were the letters were kept in, okay; a journal where dad writes to Uncle John and he writes to him like he’s dead or something—‘if you were still here’ type of stuff. It was just…” He trailed off.

“That’s really…sad, I di-“

 “It’s really fucking sad! It’s sad to see that the only thing our dad has when it comes to sharing his feelings is a fucking piece of paper, I mean, seriously, how fucking pitiful is that?!” Philip explained in one breath. He clenched his fists. “I don’t want him to be this way.”

Angelica gripped her brother’s shoulder reassuringly. “He won’t.”

“It’s so stupid because I know that he did all of this to himself.”

“He did.”

“Then why do I feel so responsible?”

“We did nothing wrong, Philip.”

“I know…I know that.”

“…Philip.” Angelica waited until he met her eyes before continuing, “Do you want to stop?”

It took a moment before Philip shook his head. “No. No, I want to help him; I love him, despite everything else.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s just-.. Angelica, I can see where I want things to go; I see the destination and I see where we are right now, what I don’t see is how we get from point A to point B. How do we transition from this? How do we take these late night messages into getting Uncle Laurens to come here and talk with father? How do we get them to bury the hatchet— I mean, what if dad did something really bad and he doesn’t deserve to be forgiven? I mean mom did despite everything but mom’s a complete saint when it comes to dad and his screw-ups and it still led to a divorce. She says she forgives him and that things are better off this way but things are still different and strained and it won’t-…  Ang, we don’t know the whole story; what if we just end up hurting them both and making it worse? What happened to our parents isn’t our fault but whatever happens between dad and John because of what we’re doing will be and that’s terrifying, aren’t you terrified? Dad’s already so…”

“…”

**(19)**

“My sixteenth birthday!” Angelica hollered, dropping the videogame controller and turning to face Phil and Alex, who were on the couch with John playing chutes and ladders.

“That’s three months away.” Alex raised an eyebrow.

“I can ask mom if we can celebrate it early with this summer weather! We can head over to the lake house upstate for the weekend!”

“Mom’s not gonna say yes to that.”

“I won,” James said, pausing the game and turning around to pay attention to his sister.

“And we can invite Uncle John!” She exclaimed.

“…He’ll say no.”

“If he says anything at all.”

“You don’t know that! I can add him on facebook and ask him myself. Maybe a video chat—it’s harder to say no face-to-face,” She said with excitement.

“You’re going to video call our Uncle John and ask him to come to your birthday,” Alex gave Angelica a pointed look.

Angelica blushed and stammered.

“Isn’t that a bit weird?” Philip pointed out, elaborating, “We never had anything against him or anything, but ever since he and dad stopped talking, we kind of just followed his lead. We never really replied to any of his holiday cards—and I mean personally, as in contacting him to say thanks rather than mom mailing out her own batch to everyone. We never reached out to him and you suddenly decide to invite him to your sixteenth birthday for a whole weekend?”

Angelica calmed down, reevaluating.

“After all the shady stuff we’ve been doing, you draw the line at personal invitations?” Alexander quirked an eyebrow.

"I'm not against it, I'm just saying."

“It does sound out of the blue suspicious when you put it like that.” James shrugged.

“What if we talk to Uncle Herc and Uncle Laf about it? Hint about it or something? Make them invite him for us,” Philip chimed in, throwing the dice and moving his piece on the board.

“Even if we get them to talk to Uncle J, I feel like he’d say no just because dad would be there.”

“Then we tell him that he won’t be there.”

“That won’t work.”

“And if we start asking about Uncle John, don’t you think that the next logical step for them is to talk to dad about it? Then dad will talk to us and to mom and, before you know it, game over.” Alex gestures using jazz hands.

“Or maybe he’ll come just so that he can talk to dad,” Philip suddenly said, sitting up straighter and looking at Angelica. “There haven’t been any messages since the drunken one, so what if he sees this opportunity to come and talk to dad about all the things he sent?”

“I’m sorry, but isn’t that basically what I said yesterday? Pick a side bro,” Alex threw a game piece at his brother’s head. Philip threw it back adding,

“I’ve had some time to think about it.”

“Is that the type of person Uncle John is?” Angelica asked.

“I don’t really remember the type of person Uncle John is, all I remember are his freckles and curly hair,” Alex thought out loud.

Philip nodded, “He’s an upfront person, if a little reserved with people. I’d like to think that he’d come just to clear the air, if nothing else.”

“And what if clearing the air means us getting caught?” Alex asked.

“…We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Angelica nervously waved the notion off.

**(20)**

“Hey, James?”

“Yeah?”

“Ever wonder how we ended up here?”

“In life?”

“No, with dad, don’t play dumb, you know what I meant.”

“You tell me, you’re the one that started the whole thing.” James reminded Alex, lifting his leg up and kicking the back of Alex’s bed.

“I know, but I didn’t know that it would end with us parent trapping our dad with our uncle,” Alex said, leaning down at the edge of the top bunk bed to look down at his brother.

“You brought up Uncle John and you brought up the letters and you suggested we play match-maker through facebook. We all just kind of rolled with it, especially after you sent that first message without telling any of us first.” James listed. “And FYI, the parent trap was about a pair of twins who switched places to meet their other parent.”

“Yeah, but the parents still ended up together in the end, right?”

“I guess.”

“So, close enough, except instead of the parents, it’s just our dad with our not-really-related-but-we-call-him-uncle-anyways uncle.”

“I don’t think mom and dad will get back together.” James frowned.

“…Yeah.” Alexander lied back down, staring at the glow in the dark stars littered all over their ceiling. “Do you think I did something I shouldn’t’ve?”

“Who knows.” A beat. “Goodnight, Alex.”

“Night, James.”

**(21)**

“James, Alex, psst. Wake up.”

James unapologetically swatted at his sister’s face, not above adding a whine here and there.

“Away, demon.”

“Seriously, I need to talk to you guys real quick.”

“Phil,” James mumbled, pulling the blankets over his head and turning away from his sister.

“He locked his door and I don’t want to risk waking John with my knocking.”

“…”

“So I just wanted to scrap my 16th birthday idea because I just realized that I actually want a legit party with all my friends—not to mention avoid the risk of getting busted at my own party, I mean, yikes—so, so, instead of my birthday, we should celebrate John’s! Our little brother John, not Uncle’s, I don’t even know when his birthday is,” Angelica babbled on.

“Anyway, if things go down, he’d be too young to remember and be traumatized, unlike me. Plus, his birthday is actually coming up, so it makes way more sense than mine since we can tell mom that we just want to party before school actually starts up again. Oh! And I thought that it stands a better chance of luring our MIA uncle since it is his godson’s birthday, right?! He’d have to be pretty dick-ish to refuse a personal invite. So? What do you guys think?”

Alexander throws one of his stuff animals on top of his sister’s head, leaning just far enough to properly glare down at her.

“You’re your father’s daughter.”

James groaned in assent.

**(22)**

“Mom said yes and she left it up to me to invite the extended family while she takes care of inviting all of John’s friends.”

“Wait, are ki-”

“No, no, so we’re going up on Monday morning, the party with friends will happen on a Saturday, and we head back early Monday morning; One week vay-cay!”

“I highly doubt it’ll feel like a vacation if we go through with this,” Philip frowned, scrolling through the messages between Uncle John and “dad” for the 10th time that day. Angelica tilted her head to look at the screen.

“How come you never replied?”

Philip shrugged, “It doesn’t feel right?”

"Why?”

“What do I even say?”

“I don’t know, just try saying ‘Hi’ again, we’ve used that as an ice breaker plenty of times already.”

“Yeah, and it hasn’t really worked out so far. I just have this sinking feeling that replying would really start things.”

“Isn’t that what we were aiming for?”

“Yeah, but this is obviously more serious than we originally thought. Uncle John seemed really upset.”

“Maybe that’s just the kind of drunk he is.”

“Doubt that.” Philip looked ahead pensively before turning to Angelica. “How would you reply to this?”

Angelica grew a bit flustered at the scrutiny, stammering, “L-Like I said, just say hi again. Maybe make a joke or something… about hangovers. They were friends since childhood, right?”

“I think they met in high school.”

“So maybe laugh and joke about the good old times, you know, if drinking and getting wasted was a thing they did back then.”

“Uncle Herc would say yes; there were a lot of stories.”

Philip turns back to look at his phone while Angelica fiddled with her laptop.

“Dad sleeps in his office a lot, have you noticed?”

Angelica looks back up; Philip doesn’t and goes on, “Can’t be good for his back.”

**(23)**

“Dad?...dad?....daaadddd-”

“Huh? What is it mi cielito? Are you hungry? I ordered pizza not too long ago, it should be here soon—here, let me check the confirmation email.”

“No, I mean, yeah we’re pretty hungry, but Ang wanted me to ask you if you got her message? You haven’t replied yet.”

“Message?”

“About the birthday party slash weekend getaway?”

“I didn’t see any me—” Alexander tapped out of his email and scrolled through his messages. “Oh, right, John’s sixth birthday. That’s not for another two month or so.”

“Yeah, we’re celebrating it early before school starts and we thought the middle of July would be best. What do you think?”

“What did your mother have to say?”

“She said it was a good idea. Dad, it’s all in the text.”

Alexander’s phone started ringing.

“Yeah, okay, wait, I have to answer this real quick, okay? Hold on.”

“You’ll come, right?”

Alexander nodded distractedly as he answered the phone and spun his chair around, talking rapidly with the other person on the line while powering on his laptop.

Alexander Jr. sighs and turns to leave the room.

**(24)**

“Rock, paper, scissors, go!”

“Two out of three!”

“Rock, paper, scissors, go! Yes! I win and you get to talk to Uncle Herc while I chat with Uncle Laf.”

“…Rematch.”

“Don’t be a sore loser.”

Philip swore underneath his breath.

**(25)**

“Is Aunt Angelica coming?”

“Oh shit.”

“Language,” James mimicked Philip’s tone, furrowing his brows and puffing up his chest at Alex.

“Ha! Nice one. But seriously.”

“She might not be able to make it this year.” James pointed out.

“But she went to the last three—from London.”

“Things aren’t as crazy anymore; maybe she’ll just skype and call it a day.”

“Maybe she’ll fly all the way from London and call it a vacation.”

“What about Aunt Peggy?”

Alex paled.

**(26)**

“I managed to get dad to sign a paper saying that he’ll come-“

“You look like crap.” James commented.

“-..because I was arguing with dad all day!”

“Arguing?” Angelica raised an eyebrow

“Debating about the terms and conditions,” Alex waved off, plopping down on the couch next to Philip.

“Of your surrender?”

“Ha ha. Dad’s only agreed to come on Friday and Saturday. He might have to leave on Saturday night but I’m seeing if I can move that to Sunday afternoon; my puppy eyes are no joke, guys.” Alex summarized, fishing out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and waving it on Philip’s face. “Dated and signed.”

“Yup, that’s our dad’s signature all right; good job, Alex.”

“Ever wonder how weird it is that we’re so used to drafting and signing contracts when it comes to getting our father to agree to things?”

“You mean how fun it is, right?”

“…Okay, yeah, it is pretty fun.” Angelica grinned.

**(27)**

“Hey Ang, do you know where my hoodie is? The King’s College one?”

“Pretty sure it’s in Alex’s room—you know you should just give that to him and buy a new one, or vice versa. What’s up?”

“I’m staying over at dad’s for the weekend and James wants to tag along. Mother talked to dad and they agreed that John can come too.”

“Gotcha, John’s pillow is downstairs; let me get it real quick.”

“Here’s you hoodie,” James came out of his room, backpack stuffed to the brim and a worn out hoodie in one hand.

“Thanks, did you remember to bring your toothbrush? Can you get mine too, please?”

“You’re the only one that doesn’t have their own toothbrush over at dad’s,” James stated, walking in the bathroom and coming out with a brand new one, handing it over to Phil. “You can leave this one over there. Alex already called the green one so you get purple; mine is orange.”

Philip stuffs that in his backpack pocket. “You have clothes there too, right? Why the backpack?”

“Videogames.”

“Ah.”

Angelica comes back up carrying a small pillow and heading into John’s room where his things are packed, shouting from the open door, “Maybe we should all just go over there?”

“Angelica’s is blue.”

“No, mom needs help cleaning the house,” Philip hollered.

“John’s is red.”

“Traitor! So that’s why you’re suddenly deciding to stay over at dad’s! And here I thought that you guys just made up and are all buddy-buddy again.”

“Hey, I’ve done my fair share of cleaning every time you decide to run away to dad’s. Let me have my turn.”

“Yeah, whatever, just be sure to text me if something good happens okay? And let me know how things go with Uncle Herc.” Angelica leans on Philip’s door frame and turned to James. “Make sure he texts me, okay?”

James nodded.

“Have you guys seen my beanie? The grey one wi-“

“Alex.”

**(28)**

“The theme’s going to be Moana, John’s been obsessed with that for months now.”

“Ah, yes, I remember getting him the pig some time ago.”

“You and everybody else, he has a small army of Pua’s now, you know. Oh! And this is him doing charades—I think his word was elephant.” Angelica swiped through her album and pressed play.

“Adorable!”

“So you’ll come, right?”

“Of course mon petit chou, Adrienne and I will be sure to make it to the party. If you need us to bring anything, just give me a call.”

“Great! That’s great! You and Aunt Ari can bring the piñata!”

“Excellent!”

“…Also,” Angelica trailed off, eyeing as the waiter comes over with their order.

“One order of bubble tea and one chai latte; enjoy!”

“Thank you!”

“Merci. Were you saying something, mon chou?”

“Um…di-d you know that John swore a couple of weeks ago? Philip accidentally slipped up in front of John. Mom was out for blood, but she was shocked when she found out where he got it from and, oh my god, Uncle, Philip’s face! Even mom started laughing when she saw his reaction!”

**(29)**

_> Ang: abort!_

_> Ang: abort mission!_

_> Ang: change of plans, sib meet @ 5 @ dads_

_> Philip: Fine by me_

_> AlexII: HA! Phil owes me 10 BUCKS_

_> Ang: rude!_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finished moving into my new place yesterday, figures I'd have to move everything during a snowstorm.
> 
> Also, in my sleep deprived state (over 36 hours of no sleep-- classes and 12hr shifts are hell, don't do it), I ended up posting another story that I've been toying with for less than a day and confessed a bunch of things that were better left unsaid.
> 
> Although all of my suffering proved to be adequate amount of inspiration for the major issues Phil's going to have and the type of conflict he'd have with John in the future, so that's a plus. For the plot. Phil's gonna suffer emotionally for a while. 
> 
> Fun facts: My original plan was doing things in Ang's b-day but then looked up their actual b-day and saw that John's actually made more sense, so Angelica changing her decision was basically a self-insert (*cough*alsophil'slittleanxietyriddenmonologuewasalsoaselfinsertwhoops*cough*)


	4. Take a Break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to draw instead of write for a change. The thought that I own an expensive tablet (love you, mom) and hardly ever use it pains me. I'm writing to avoid studying and now I'm drawing to avoid writing. Procastinception. Linework took the majority of the day then I rushed so shading is basically nonexistent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that the kids don't really have set personalities but I'm hoping that whatever they do exhibit (consistently) shows through. I actually really want to edit this later on and add the adults in this ominous, looming fashion-- that way, I'd be comfortable calling it a cover art-- but that's for another day.


	5. Quatre.

**(30)**

“I’ve made some revisions to the plan and it’s better so it’s not up for siblings’ approval.”

“And here I thought that this was a democracy. Is dad not home yet?”

“He said he got held up at work, he should be home in an hour though; he bought Thai food,” James said.

“Mom’s making spaghetti so we have to leave in 30,” Alex said before turning to Angelica. “You know Ang, you can just admit that you flaked out. You’re in the company of family here, we won’t judge,” Alex snickered as he waved his two five dollar bills around.

“I did not flake out! I just realized that there’s a better way to get the results that we want!”

“You figured this as you were talking with Uncle Laf? So, like, you made up an excuse? Ergo, you totally flaked.”

“What do you have in mind?” Philip asked as he lay down on the carpet floor and filled in a coloring book with a very determined John.

“We ask Uncle John first! We know that there’s a big chance that he might say no and if he does _then_ we go tell the other uncles about his refusal and guilt them with childhood grief and confusion and ‘why doesn’t Uncle John like us anymore?’—they’ll be on our side for sure! This seems like a softer way than grilling them about him and raising suspicions.”

“Softer? Sounds like plain old emotional manipulation to me.”

“So, who’s going to ask Uncle John?”

“I handled dad!” Alex shot up, effectively removing himself from the roster.

“I’m too young to really be doing any of this.” James rummaged through his backpack for a game.

“Can I have the red crayon, Phil?” John made grabby motions to Philip’s left.

“Here you go little guy. I was already assigned Uncle Herc.”

Alexander smirked and looked at Angelica.

“All that’s left is you, really, and it makes sense since it’s your idea.”

“He-!”

“Not subject to siblings’ approval!”

“F-Fine, I’ll do it… how?”

“Just facebook message him a personal invitation. Private or public?”

“Public!”

“Private, of course.”

Philip and James gave each other a look. Philip spoke up first.

“Private means we keep the situation contained—no outside factors and no risk of…interference. Not to mention getting found out prematurely.”

“Public is way less shady and it will show everyone that we’ve got nothing to hide. This type of thing would look good if we’re ever found out—just a couple of naïve kids who didn’t know any better.”

“…Okay, but Ang and Uncle John both have the other uncles as mutual friends, if she posts public, then they’ll see it too.”

“Maybe they should see it? It’ll add to the act Ang wants to pull later on—more sympathy votes, IMO”

“And it’ll put the pressure on Uncle J!” Alex grinned down at his brother before turning to Philip and Angelica. “Saying no to a kid-“

“Teenager!”

“- will be twice as hard if everyone can see your reply! Plus, who knows, maybe Uncle Laf and Uncle Herc would see this and totally be on our side!”

Angelica raised an eyebrow and Alexander pumps himself up as he gestured wildly.

“No, no, think about it! They were all close friends when they were young! Those two still keep in touch with both dad and Uncle J but I’m sure they miss the good old days.”

Philip pursed his lips in thought while Angelica scrolled through her phone and let her fingers hover over the friend request button on John Laurens’ homepage with furrowed eyebrows.

“That…actually makes sense…if they want the gang back together…then they might end up using us to do it if they see the opportunity.”

“Don’t put it like that; sounds way too cold-hearted,” Angelica whispered, placing her phone down on the carpeted floor and putting a hand over her heart. “Friend request sent.”

Alex laughed as he pointed on the time on his phone to get Ang’s attention before going over by the door and putting on his shoes.

“That’s amazing! We’re trying to use the uncles to pressure Uncle John into coming to a party and our uncles will be using us right back to get their little squad back together. But they won’t know that we know!”

“You don’t know that for sure. It has just as much of a chance of making them uncomfortable,” Angelica pointed out, leaning down to give John’s forehead a kiss before standing up.

“Uncle John won’t stand a chance.” James shook his head as he walked over and gave Angelica a hug goodbye. “Text us when you get home.”

**(31)**

“You know James, you’d make a terrifying politician one day.”

“I know.”

**(32)**

“Morning. Hey, have you seen John anywhere? He’s not in his room.”

“Good morning. He’s probably sleeping in dad’s office. He does that a lot when we’re over.”

“In his office?”

“Yeah, he waits for dad to tuck him into bed but he usually falls asleep watching dad work late so he just clocks out there.”

Philip frowned at the information, heading towards his father’s office and quietly opening the door for a peak. Sure enough, there was John sound asleep on the couch, trapped between the back cushions and his father’s sleeping form. It did not look comfortable.

Philip hesitated for a moment before going over and lightly tapping his brother’s arm.

“Hey bud, good morning. I’m making waffles for breakfast, do you want some?”

John gives a sleepy nod while he tries to untangle himself from his father’s embrace as Philip reaches down to lift him up.

“Dad?”

“Let’s let him sleep for a little longer.” Philip softly closes the door behind him.

“M’kay.”

“Do you fall asleep there a lot?”

A nod.

“Why?”

“Daddy promises to tuck me into bed.”

“…But he doesn’t?”

A shake of the head.

“I could tuck you in to bed, if you want.”

Another head shake. “No, daddy says he will.”

“But he can be too busy sometimes and you just end up falling asleep on the couch.”

“He promises.”

John pouted up at his brother, seemingly growing frustrated with his big brother’s failure to understand such a simple concept. Philip dropped the issue.

**(33)**

“It’s not like he has to stop working all together! Would it kill him to take five minutes off his schedule to tuck his kid into bed? He can still work himself into unconsciousness if he wants to and not have to drag John down with him.”

“Calm down Phil, it’s not so bad. John doesn’t actually mind.”

“Well, he should! I do! And we know that John’s a pretty light sleeper and you _know_ how dad gets sometimes when he’s really in the zone, an-”

“Calm down, Phil.”

“How can he be so irresponsible?”

“I wouldn’t call it that…”

“What would you call it, then?”

“…It’s just how dad is. It’s nothing new, Phil, it’s not like we haven’t done what John’s doing when we were kids.”

“But we also had mom stepping in and picking up the...parental slack.”

“Well John’s not gonna budge so if I were you, I’d talk to dad about your concerns instead of ranting at me about it,” Angelica snapped.

“Are you mad at me?”

“I’m not, okay, just—look, I gotta go, see you soon Phil.”

  **(34)**

“Dad says he’s going to be home late again.”

“I wanna wait.”

“…Okay, why don’t we wait in your room?”

“No, then he won’t see me.”

“...You can stay in my room and wait there. I’ll wake you up when he comes.”

“No.”

“Okay, where do you want to wait?”

“Office!” John points at the door.

“…Okay, I’ll go get blankets then.”

“Coloring book!”

“Yeah, and your coloring book.” Philip yawned.

**(35)**

“James! James! Wake up! Holy fu- I need your help! James!”

James shot out of bed with a start, looking up at his brother in panic, who was pacing back and forth with a phone held to his ears.

“What’s wrong?! Where’s John?” James threw his blankets aside and stood up.

“Shi-Ang isn’t picking up. James, try to call Alex, will you?”

“What happened, Philip?” James stood in front of his pacing brother and grabbed his arm.

“John- he…I-…”

“…”

Philip collapsed on the bed, gripping his hair tightly.

“We were waiting for dad to get home in his office and John was coloring and I decided to read the--… read the, um, l-letters. B-But I fell asleep, not even 15 minutes, I swear, and I woke up and John, he- James, he- I put him in the living room and gave him ice cream so he won’t freak out when I- I…”

James raised an eyebrow, waiting for his brother to continue. When it seemed like Philip’s brain has stalled to a halt, James sighed and headed downstairs to see what happened for himself.

**(36)**

“John, can you tell me why you would cut these papers up?”

“My name! See, it says ‘John’ here! And here! And he-“

“Why did you cut them?”

“To paste in my coloring book!”

“…”

“Ms. Hazel showed us. It’s called a c-..coll-”

“A collage, right…okay. Let’s go back to the living room.”

“I wanna finish before dad gets home!”

 James looked at his little brother then to the mess that is their dad’s office floor.

“I honestly don’t see why not at this point so go ahead, I’ll just go upstairs really quick and talk to Phil, okay?”

John nodded as he sat back down and got back to work.

**(37)**

“No, Alex, I can’t just tape it all back together! Do you think our father’s blind?!... Maybe another hour or so…I do-… Burn the evidence? Serious- look, can you just wake Angelica, please? I’m begging you.”

“Speaker,” James said as he sat on top of his desk, watching Phil pace back and forth yet again.

Philip taps the speaker icon and the room was instantly filled with Alex’s ranting.

“—urn all of the evidence and pretend to know nothing when dad finds out! What’s he gonna do, give a detailed description of the papers that suddenly went missing to his kids? Ang! Hey, Ang, wake up, Phil royally screwed up, you need to hear this; it’s hilarious.”

“W-Why are you laughing about this?! We’re in serious trouble here, Alex!”

“Who says I’m not taking this seriously? I can panic and still find the whole thing funny, Phil.”

“People have different ways of coping.” James nodded.

“And you acting all nonchalant is yours, I presume?” Phil glared at his brother who just shrugged. “John wanted to go back in the room and finish his collage up.”

Phil’s mouth fell open in disbelief, earning a raised eyebrow from his brother. “I mean, what more can he do? Would you rather I bring him up here and see you freaking out like this? He’ll be upset and cry to dad for sure.”

“Philip!” Angelica’s panicked voice cut through the tense silence. Philip’s head snapped forward, holding the phone with both hands.

“Ang! Ang, what do I do? There’s no way John could’ve even found those letters if it weren’t for me and if I didn’t fall asleep I-! What do I do?!” Philip then turned to James, hissing out, “Please get our brother out of that room!”

James narrowed his eyes at his brother before calmly sliding off of the desk, “Since you obviously have things figured out,” he mumbled.

Phil ignored that to interrupt Angelica’s screeching.

**(38)**

James started when he saw his brother run through the living room and into the office. There were a lot of banging and a lot of papers shuffling before Philip ran back out, looking at James with wild eyes. “Put the baby back in the cradle!”

“…He’s five?”

“It’s an expression! Where’s John?”

“He went to the bathroom. What’d you guys come up with?” James asked with a yawn.

“Dad needs to catch John in the act and I have to pretend to be asleep when he does. I messed up his office a bit to make it look like John was messing around in there.”

“Wait, so we’re throwing our sweet, little brother under the bus?”

“That’s not-…we’re not…dad won’t get mad at him and he won’t suspect us. If anything, he’d be mad at me for falling asleep and leaving him unsupervised but the point is that he’d get mad at me but not _find out_ , you know?”

The toilet flushed.

“Don’t forget to wash your hands!” James hollered before standing up and stretching his arms. “Well then, I’m going back to sleep. When’ll dad be home?”

“Another 20 minutes maybe.”

“Okay then. Good luck and goodnight.”

**(39)**

John’s head perked up when he heard the front door opening and closing.

“Dad’s home!” He stage whispered to Phil, not really wanting to wake his big brother up from his little nap on the couch. It was a pretty comfy couch.

He stands up instead and grabs his little art project before jogging out of the office to show his father what he’s made.

“Dad!”

“¡Ya llegué! ¡Hola, mi chiquito! I see someone’s not ready to go to sleep yet.” Alexander picks his kid up into a hug, albeit a bit sluggish.

“Hola!” John giggled, hugging back before pushing away and shoving his artwork at his father’s face.

“Look! It’s for you!”

Alexander hummed, taking the paper into his hand and giving it an exaggerated serious expression (much to John’s glee).

The look was quickly replaced with horror, skin paling alarmingly.

“John,” he choked out, “Where did you get this?”

“Your office! Look, it’s my name! Then Alex's name! And I wrote 'mom' and 'dad' and next to it is the word ‘love’—I know that word now, I know how to spell it! And I can also spell Ang, and James, and Phi—!”

Alexander silently took his child’s hand and walked into the office, looking over the mess of scattered and cut up papers and catching a glimpse of opened drawers behind his desk. His gaze then took in his eldest son’s sleeping form (bunched up to fit in the couch). Alexander noted that that position couldn’t’ve been comfortable.

John kept on talking excitedly.

He’s been meaning to get a pull out couch for John… that way… he should really get to that.

John…

Alexander looked down at his youngest, still babbling on without a care.

“So you can put it on the refrigerator like mommy! You will, right?”

Alexander let out a shaky breathe and put on an even shakier smile.

“Of course, mi chiquito. Y-You did a really good job… but…”

“But?” John frowned before perking up. “I’ll clean up! Promise! While you work.”

Alexander’s frown deepened before shaking it off, not wanting to worry his child.

“No, no, it’s fine. I’ll clean all of these up. Did you brush your teeth yet?”

John nodded.

“Okay, good. Why don’t I go and tuck you in to bed, yeah?”

“You’re done with work?”

“…Yes. Come on.”

“Story?”

“Okay, one story.”

John grinned.

**(40)**

Philip waited for what must’ve been half an hour before his dad came back downstairs again. He stiffened at the noise before forcing himself to relax, clenching his fist tightly to stay as still as possible when the door opened.

He hoped that his breathing was steady.

There was a moment of silence where Philip wasn’t sure what his dad was doing but then he heard papers being scrapped together and picked up from the floor. The rustling of the papers suggested that his father was looking over the damage before sighing, quite shakily—almost making Philip flinch.

He then heard drawers being closed and a metallic clang which Philip suspects was the scissors being put back on his desk.

The sound of his chair being pulled and the slight scrunching of the leather as his father sat on it. He let out a heavy sigh.

Then silence.

Minutes passed by and Philip finally decided to take a chance and shift a little from his position on the couch.

That seemed to have gotten his father’s attention because Philip hears him stand up from his desk and walk over to his “sleeping” form.

A pause before solid and warm hands lightly gripped his shoulder.

Not really trusting himself to open his eyes and actually look at his father right now, Philip settled with letting out a small grunt.

“Philip? Hey, son, you fell asleep on the couch. You’re going to hurt your neck that way, why don’t you go back up to your room? I already put John to bed.”

Philip slowly sat up and made a show of rubbing his eyes, keeping his head low.

“M’kay,” Philip mumbled, standing up and faking a yawn.

“Okay, good night, son. I love you.”

“Good night, dad.”

Philip closed the door to his father’s office and made it to his room. He closed his door and leaned on it, letting out a shaky breathe as he looked at the darkness in front of him.

“Fuck…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My new place is so close to campus (and my clin. site) that I cut my eta by more than half! That means that I can sleep more, haha. Gotta see the bright side of this 4-day long winter snowstorm. What the hell February. 
> 
> I feel like that I'm making Philip to simultaneously be the most grown-up and the most accident-prone (I mean, he seems to be messing up A LOT), I don't know if I relate or if I'm abusing my powers as author and essentially giving birth to a low-level whump character. 
> 
> I had to watch a youtube video on the developmental stages of 5 year-olds to check if John's vocabulary is even age appropriate. Kids perplex me and I'm now realizing that I may not be the right person to write these sort of things, ha.


	6. Cinq.

**__** __

**(41)**

“Oh, thank the goddesses up above!” Ang threw herself on her bed and stared at her ceiling for a few solid minutes before lifting her phone up to stare at the text Phil sent her.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Alex mused, bouncing on his spot at the edge of the bed.

“I can’t believe that it even happened in the first place.” Angelica threw her phone off to the side and covered her eyes with her arm, groaning,

“Our big brother can be such an idiot sometimes. How can you fall asleep in such a high risk situation like that?”

“He’s been pretty worked up all day, so there’s that. I’m just glad that John didn’t overshare the details of where exactly he got those letters from.”

“Philip does love taking his angry naps. Yeah, not telling John to lie about it was risky, but it paid off. Thank fuck for that.”

“…Yeah, and watch your language, Junior.”

“Ugh, don’t call me that.” Alex bounced a little harder to shake the whole mattress.

They stayed silent for a couple of minutes to just reflect on the absolute madness that was the past two hours.

“Now that the crisis is averted, I think you’d want to know that Uncle John accepted my friend request and now I’m just wondering why we weren’t friends with him already. I mean, we’re friends with all of our aunts and uncles, why not him?”

“Out of the frying pan and into the fire, I see. Well, James and I were too young to really know him that well—and it’s not like we had facebook then.”

“Yeah, I see your point, but Philip should’ve been, you know? He was old enough.”

“Ha, want to bet that they were friends but he unfriended him after the fight? You know, like a good and loyal daddy’s boy?”

“It wasn’t really a fight, or at least not one that any of us witnessed. Uncle John just gave dad the cold shoulder out of the blue and that was that.”

“I wonder why?” Alex laid back on the bed and grabbed Ang’s phone to look at her account.

“Isn’t that question numero uno,” Ang huffed out.

“So, when are you going to message him? Or post on his timeline? I forgot, are you doing private or public?”

“Public,” Ang groaned, rolling on her bed until the side of her face was pressed against the mattress. She looked at Alex in trepidation. “James was right, in the long run, this will help us build a case that it was all done with the most innocent and well-meaning intention. The intention being: Get Uncle John to attend his godchild’s birthday.”

“The underlying scheme being: Get dad and Uncle J to kiss and makeup.”

“Big words for a thirteen year-old.”

“Nothing compared to James, you know that he reads at a 10th grade level, right?”

“Terrifying.”

“Our parents feel otherwise.”

“But we know better.”

“But of course.” Holding the phone to face Ang as the screen displayed John Laurens’ homepage. “So, when are you going to send it?”

“I’m drafting the proposal in my head as we speak.”

“We going to trap him in a contract too?” Alex grinned.

“No, sorry, these words are basically second nature to me.”

“You should try that method to land yourself a boyfriend,” Alex snickered.

Ang roughly swiped her phone back from Alex with a glare.

“Or girlfriend,” Alex added.

“After you.” Angelica rolled her eyes and tapped on the screen. “ _Hey, Uncle John, it’s Angelica, I don’t know if you remember me—_ ”

“That’s stupid; of course he’ll remember you!”

“—fine, _Hey, Uncle John! Thanks for accepting my friend request! Long time no see! We’ve missed you a lot. How are you? Anyway, our little brother John is celebrating his 6 th birthday on the 14th of Jul_—”

“No, no, put the whole week! Let’s see how far we can push him!” Alex rolled onto his stomach and rested his chin on his folded arms.

“Inviting him out of the blue isn’t pushing him enough for you?” Ang raised an eyebrow but her finger hovered over the backspace button.

“Guilt is a force to be reckoned with. Also, add more exclamation points!”

“… _is celebrating his 6 th birthday from July 11 to July 15 on our lake house upstate._” She stopped typing. “I’m giving us a two days head start so we can prepare for his arrival,” Angelica whispered.

“Okay, so we get there on the 9th, Uncle John on the 11th, dad and the uncles get there on the 13th, and Aunt Peggy is still undecided.” Alex counted off on his fingers. Angelica nodded, adding,

“Mom and I talked to Aunt Angelica and she couldn’t get time off of work since it was so short notice. But she already got approved for the two weeks around John’s actual birthday, so she’ll be there for that at least.”

“Is it bad that I feel kind of relieved that she can’t come?”

“No, but don’t forget we still have Aunt Peggy to worry about. Anyways: _Hey, Uncle John! Thanks for accepting my friend request! Long time no see! We’ve missed you a lot. How are you? Anyway, our little brother John is celebrating his 6 th birthday from July 11 to July 15 on our lake house upstate and I’ve been put in charge of inviting the family and we’re just wondering if you’d like to come?”_

“Be more aggressive than that, it’s too easy to say no to.”

“… _we’re all really hoping that you can come and celebrate with us! Please say you’ll come! We miss you and we’ve been telling our little brother John a lot about you and he really wants to meet his godfather—”_

“Ha, good one.”

“— _so you coming would be a really great present for him!_ ”

“Facetime! Add a facetime!”

“…”

“Chicken! Facetime was your idea! What was it? Something about it being harder to say no face-to-face?” Alex mocked, poking his sister’s arm, who nudged him away as her cheeks pinked slightly.

“… _Anyways! I’ll try and facetime you tomorrow at around noon to give you all the details, so make sure to pick up, okay! We won’t take no for an answer!..._ S-Should I put the L word?” Angelica asked nervously.

Alex shrugged, “I mean it’s great if you really want to crush him with guilt, so…”

“If I hadn’t already.” Ang gulped in embarrassment.

_“Love and Miss You! See you soon (hopefully lol)! – Ang.Ham.”_

“Delete the ‘Ham,’ it might trigger him.”

Angelica deleted it.

A moment of silence.

“Hit send.”

“…”

“…Ang, hit send.”

“I know…I will.”

“When, exactly? I need to go back to sleep, Ang, let’s get this over with so we ca—”

“Sent! Ahhh!” Angelica slammed her phone down on the bed and rolled around, frantically grabbing her pillow and using it to muffle her screaming.

Alex shook his head, patted his sister’s leg once, got up, and left the room.

“G’night.”

More muffled screaming.

**(42)**

“Did you notice the refrigerator door?” James pointed with his thumb as he took a bite of his cereal.

“How could I not?”

“…Are we going to say anything?”

“I won’t.”

“Wouldn’t that be even more suspicious than asking?”

“I don—Dad! Hey, good morning! You’re up early,” Phil greeted, fumbling with his spoon in surprise.

“Morning, Dad. Can you drop us home later?”

“Sure thing, buddy.” Alexander yawned as he went to the counter to grab himself a cup of coffee.

“Also, dad?”

“Hm?” Alexander went over, lifted John up from his seat so he could sit down, and dropped John to sit on his lap.

“Alex told us that you were planning on heading back home from John’s party on a Saturday and we’re just wondering if you can stay an extra day? It’s just… Friday, we’ll be busy setting up and Saturday is the party. We just really wanted to have a picnic by the lake with just the family. We were thinking Sunday and we’d really like it if you could join us?” James frowned down shyly at his bowl as he stirred it with his spoon.

“…I-…I’ll try, nene, but--… Okay, I’ll make it work, I promise; No te preocupes.”

John lifted a spoonful of cereal and poked his father’s cheek, who smiled tiredly down at his son and took the bite, making an appreciative sound.

“That’s great, dad! I’ll make sure to tell Ang that. Can I bring the revised contract for you to sign later?” James inquired with a smile.

Alexander hummed his assent, watching with amusement as John grabbed his coffee cup and took a tentative sip. His youngest son made a face of disgust and everyone laughed.

John’s little artwork on the fridge was left unspoken.

**(43)**

“Dad just signed the updated contract and Angelica sent a screenshot of the message she sent Uncle John last night.” James carefully dismantled his Xbox, placing each part in his backpack.

“No reply yet?”

“If he replied, then we would know—Angelica would be ringing us like crazy.”

“True. I’m going to go upstairs and pack all of John’s things.”

“I think dad did that already.”

“Really?”

“You can check, but I’m pretty sure.” James shrugged.

“…I’ll check.”

**(44)**

“Did Uncle J reply?” James asked as he took his phone out of his pocket.

“No, but Ang won’t stop texting us about the video-call she has to make soon.”

“I wish we were there to see her freak out in person. I hope Alex records it.”

“This is Alex; of course he’ll record it.” Philip shook his head in mock exasperation.

“Yeah, but still. Almost makes me want to skip this fancy dinner dad’s taking us out on… Almost.”

“After all the takeout we endured and the pictures of homemade food Ang kept sending us? No way, we deserve this.”

“Oh, man, I already miss mom’s pancakes.”

“Her lasagna.” Philip closed his eyes in yearning.

“All of these junk food is only fun when you’re a kid, you know.”

“You’re ten, James.” Philip raised an eyebrow at his little brother.

“I have an old soul.” James shrugged back.

**(45)**

“Hey, Ang! Dad invited us out to have dinner with them at six, want to go?” Alex opened the door to his sister’s room without bothering to knock.

“Yeah, sounds fun, go and tell mom,” Ang replied distractingly as she made shooing motions with her hand.

“Already did…what’re you doing?”

“It’s 11:58.”

“Y-es?”

“I said that I’d call at noon.”

“Around noon, not 12 on the dot.”

“No, I should just rip it off…like a band-aid.”

“You don’t sound that convinced,” Alex pointed out, standing behind his sister and looking over her shoulder to get a good view of her laptop.

“Just do it… just do it,” Angelica kept on mumbling, staring intently at the call button on the screen.

“You have a touchscreen laptop, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“So…” Alexander Jr. quickly tapped on the call button on the screen and started to back away. “Good luck!” He slams the door shut.

“F-Fuck! Alex!!” Angelica shrieked.

“Language!” Alex shouted behind the close door with a laugh at the same moment that John Laurens’ face popped up on screen.

Angelica wished for death.

“H-Hey! Hey, Uncle John!”

“Hi, Angie, it’s been—how have you been? Did you get the last card I sent on…um, New Years?” John smiled awkwardly, seeming to fumble with his phone for a comfortable angle.

“Yes! We got it, thank you so much! Did you get our card? A-Anyway, so, did you read my message? Um, you can come, right? We’d really lik-love for you to come! We all miss you, especially Philip! You remember him, right? He had another growth spurt so he’s a lot taller than me now—I’m 5”5 and he’s—oh, actually, I go by Ang now, but that’s okay, you can call me Angie if you want to and, anyway, I—” Angelica lost track of her words and her hands, which was doing an excessive amount of gesturing.

Death felt like a kindness at this point.

“U-Um…yeah, I read your message. I’m really flattered that you thought to, um, invite me and all—”

“Of course! I mean, you’re our uncle and John’s your godchild and, and Uncle Laf and Herc will be there—Uncle Laf will bring the piñata but we’re not sure what Uncle Herc will bring, actually, I’m not sure if I actually invited him yet, Philip was supposed to do that but they can only make it for the weekend; Dad’s also too busy so he’ll only be there for the weekend but the jury’s still out on that an—“ Angelica forced her mouth shut, her face beet red and her palms a sweaty, sticky mess.

“…Oh, that sounds fun—”

“The theme is Disney… Moana, more specifically.”

“I’ve been meaning to see that one, I’m sure it’s nice.”

"It's on Netflix." Angelica nodded.

Awkward silence.

John Laurens cleared his throat and looked to his side, smiling weakly.

“Um, well, I-I was looking at my schedule for that month…”

Angelica braced herself, her hands tightly gripping the edge of her seat.

“And, I’m pretty sure that I can make it,” He finished, looking back at Angelica.

Angelica was embarrassed to note that it took her brain an additional five seconds to properly digest what he just said.

“…You’ll come?”

“Yes…yes, I can come. It sounds like fu—”

“For five whole days?”

“The 11th to the 15th? Yes…?” John sounded a little unsure now.

Angelica shook her head. “That’s great! That’s—! Great! Wow! I-Yeah!… great,” she finished weakly.

John smiled at her.

Man, those are some freckles, Angelica noted.

“So, um, I’ll see you then?”

“Yes, I can’t wait to see you kids again, um, it’s been a long time.”

“Yeah…”

“So…um, it was nice talking to you.”

“Yes, of course! You too, Uncle John! So great. Um, so, I’ll talk to you later, then?”

“Okay, again, it was nice to see you again, um… bye, then,” John’s eyebrows quirked up in a very endearing manner.

“Bye…for now?”

“For now.” A nod.

“Okay…”

“Okay…”

“Bye.”

“Bye…”

John Laurens gave a slight wave with his free hand and hit the call end button.

Angelica Hamilton slid off the chair and laid face-first on the floor.

Alexander Hamilton Jr. staggered back in as he laughed his ass off.

**(46)**

“He actually agreed to five days? He will be there for, legit, _five days_?” Philip asked in disbelief.

“That’s what he said, yeah, I was—”

“Did you mention dad?”

“Oh, yeah, she started to ramble incoherently but she did mention dad only coming for the weekend but he didn’t really react or say anything about it,” Alex snickered at the memory.

“Maybe he didn’t catch it? Maybe Ang just misheard or…why would he agree to a whole week just like that?”

“A very real possibility, Ang was a train wreck but I was listening and no, he really did agree to five days. He probably has his own agenda, for all we know.”

“But he said that he’ll come so I count that as a win,” Ang huffed out. “B-ut…yeah, I didn’t really expect it all to go as smoothly as it did. _Can_ something be up?”

“You call that smooth?”

“Shut up.”

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Also, where does that leave us with the uncles?”

Angelica shrugged despite knowing that her brother can’t see her over the phone.

“We’ll see but, for now, how are things on your end?”

She heard Philip groan.

**(47)**

_> JohnLaurens: Hey, Angie, I’m sorry but can you give me the address to the place? I forgot to ask earlier._

_> JohnLaurens: Also, if there’s anything that I can bring, just let me know, I’d be more than happy to help._

_> JohnLaurens: Tell your siblings that I miss them and that I’m looking forward to seeing them all again_

**(48)**

“Did you notice that Uncle Laf liked Ang’s post on Uncle J’s timeline?”

“For real?”

Alex turned his phone to James.

“Huh… called it.”

Alexander finished locking the door to his house before he walked over to the car to double check John’s seatbelt.

They headed out to eat.

**(49)**

 “I’m really proud of you, Ang.” Phil patted his sister’s back as they entered their home.

Their mother shouted her greeting from the upstairs bedroom.

Angelica groaned and hugged her brother’s side, nudging her head by his ribs before glaring up at him.

“You still have to talk to Uncle Herc and invite him.”

“Still? Can’t I just give him a quick call?”

“No, you have to meet him. Suffer a little bit.” Angelica detached herself from Phil, who walked up to their mother by the stairs to give her a hug.

“How was dinner, my loves?”

“Great, we had lobster.”

“Sounds wonderful. Don’t forget to brush your teeth, okay?”

The kids nodded and Eliza smiled as she reached for John, carrying him and his backpack upstairs.

**(50)**

“Okay, I’m meeting Uncle Herc today for an hour for a quick bite—I think he’s going on his break. Is there anything you need for him to bring?”

“Flower crowns? Hula skirts? Tell him that John wants to dress up like Moana and show him pictures—I’ll send you reference pics— maybe he’ll make it for us.”

“I’m sure he’d love to make John cute little outfits.” Philip nodded along and took notes on his memo app. “Okay, I’ll be heading off, then.”

“Have fun!”

“Doubt it, but thanks.”

**(51)**

_> Philip: UNCLE LAF IS WITH HIM!! THEY’RE BOTH SITTING THERE WAITING FOR ME!_

_> Philip: What do I do???_

_> AlexII: theyre goin 2 drill you SO HARD BRO_

_> Ang: grin and bearit like the rest of us!_

_> James: Don’t let them know what we know_

_> AlexII: Oh yea, hush hush on that DONT MESS THINGS UP AGAIN YOU HEAR_

_> Ang: if they ask about the fb thing, just say it was my idea! b innocent!_

_> AlexII: NOT. GUILTY!_

_> AlexII: cell block tango?_

_> Philip: GUYS_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay, now that this chapter is out of the way, I can finally focus on studying the 12 chapters that are going to be on the exam tomorrow! Argh, I'm hella distracted and my brother wants to come over and I should say no since I'll be studying but I already said yes and-- argh! Come on me, make Alexander Hamilton proud!
> 
> John, I ask this with all the sincerity in the world, but what the fuck are you up to? Can you tell me since it's kinda supposed to be my job to know? Anytime now.


	7. Sept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops.

**(51)**

“We should call him and tell him to hide his phone under the table so we can listen in!”

“Or get a lyft and secretly watch it unfold in all of its glory.”

“Or maybe start actually panicking?”

Angelica and Alex stopped snickering to look at James with a raised eyebrow.

James shrugged in response, elaborating, “Our Uncle Herc, who is a fashion designer slash suspected secret spy for a secret organization, our Uncle Laf egging him on as his enabling sidekick, and our dear older brother, who tends to confess to things he didn’t even do if stared at long enough.”

Angelica and Alex looked at James with both of their eyebrows raised in dawning realization.

“He’ll completely fold, guys.”

“Oh-” Alex mumbled.

“Shit.” Angelica breathed out.

**(52)**

Philip was greeted with a pair of too wide smiles and a plate of cherry Danish.

“We went ahead and ordered for you, the line was getting long,” Gilbert explained after giving Philip a hug.

“Lunch hours,” Philip agreed as he took a seat and bumped knuckles with Hercules.

“Long time no see, bud. How’ve you been?”

“Oh, you know… this and…yeah.”

His uncles nodded, smiles still plastered on their faces.

“We know.”

Philip gulped.

**(53)**

“We have to run interference somehow!”

“How?”

“Call him! Stage an emergency!”

“Chances are that they’ll come running too, you know. They are family.”

“A not so urgent emergency, then!”

“Like what?”

“…Stove on?”

**(54)**

“I didn’t know that you were coming along too, Uncle Laf.”

“Oh, well, I bumped into old Herc here and decided to join him on your little get together since I’m done with work for today.”

“The more the merrier, right?” Uncle Herc nodded.

“Right.” Philip nodded as he internally disagreed, eyeing the offered Danish cautiously.

**(55)**

“Okay, we call a lyft and physically extract him from the hot zone.”

“That’s a 15 minute ride, Ang, the damage would’ve already been done before we even get there.”

“Damn.”

**(56)**

“So, lil’ John’s having his birthday upstate, huh? Sounds like a real event,” Hercules mused.

“Yeah, well, just kind of decided to get the family summer vacation and our little brother’s birthday done in one go.” Philip chanced a quick glance at his uncle, “Actually, we were hoping that you could give us a hand with John’s outfit?”

“Outfit? The theme’s Disney, right?”

Herc looked to Gilbert, who nodded, “Moana.”

“Sweet, he got something in mind?”

Philip got his phone out, miserably taking note of his sweaty palms, to enlarge the image Ang sent him for reference. He held the screen out for his uncle to take.

Hercules zoomed in the picture and muttered to himself while Gilbert tilted his head to look at the picture.

“Qu'il est mignon!”

“Looks like it’ll be pretty simple once I find the right patterned fabric.” Hercules grinned as he handed the phone back. “Should be no problem at all. How authentic do you want it to be?”

“Oh, um, that doesn’t really matter.” Philip gave a chuckle that he hoped didn’t come out too awkwardly. “Full creative license.”

“Sweet.”

**(57)**

“We call Uncle John and tell him!”

“Wait, what?! Tell him what exactly?”

“I don’t know.”

“…”

“We call dad and-”

“I know I said panic, but now you guys just need to chill.”

“Revel at the chaos you have orchestrated and despair,” Angelica hissed out.

James scrunched up his face in utter bafflement.

**(58)**

“We can do final fitting and adjustments when I get there, I should have it ready by then, more or less.”

“Sounds good.”

“Great! So, how soon can I come? I know your family’s heading there on the 9th, and I don’t want to interrupt family time but I’m more than willing to help organize things. What do you think?”

“You are family…” Philip started to protest as his brain finished processing all of his uncle’s words, “Huh?”

“How early can I come? To the little getaway.” Hercules shook his head, smiling.

“Oh…well, Uncle Laf and Aunt Ari are coming on the…”

“13th,” Gilbert supplied, taking a sip of his drink.

“13, yeah, so, if you want—”

“When’s your Uncle John coming?” Hercules cut in.

**(59)**

“I mean, they can’t prove anything! Not really! A-And, Philip’s always been a nervous wreck when interrogated so… entrapment!”

“Where does that put you with your habit to word vomit when under pressure?”

“Shut up!”

“Guys, stop! We’re turning on each other, can’t you see that that’s what they want!”

“…Okay, this is getting weird. I’m leaving.”

“Wait!”

**(60)**

Philip choked on air, which he then tried to pass off as clearing his throat. He hoped that it wasn’t as incriminating as it felt.

“O-h, um, Uncle John said that he can be there on the 11th.”

“Hm, gotcha, count me in for July 11 then, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” Philip squeaked out.

**(61)**

“How does he even manage to get himself into all of these situations in the first place? I mean, is he cursed? I’m being serious here; our brother might’ve been cursed as a child.”

“It’s only funny until we get caught in the crossfire. Now he’s just a…what’s the word? Starts with L.”

“Liability,” James provided as he entered the room with a board game clutched between his arms.

“Liability, yes! At this point, the best option is to just cut him loose… is that Monopoly?”

“It’s distraction.”

**(62)**

“Philip, how is our good friend John? It’s been such a long time since we last caught up. Alas, he is not the social media type.” Gilbert shook his head in faux disappointment.

“Yeah, it’s been over two months since our last phone call.” Hercules nodded to Gilbert before turning to Philip with the same smile that, Philip thinks, is supposed to come out as disarming. “Any interesting news from his video call with Ang?”

**(63)**

“Top hat!”

“Shoe.”

“…Thimble.”

**(64)**

“I-I wasn’t there.”

Silence.

“I was over at dad’s when they talked to each other,” Philip elaborated. “They caught up for a bi-”

“Oh yeah, does your dad know that we’re _all_ coming?” Hercules carefully worded out but the implication was clear.

“O-Oh, no, he hasn’t r-really been asking about the party, so...”

“Ah, I see.” Gilbert took a sip of his drink.

Hercules took a bite of his muffin. “So your parents left Ang in charge of the guest list.” Hercules chuckled softly to himself. “With great power, am I right?” He elbowed Gilbert’s arm.

“She seems to be handling it very well.” Gilbert nodded.

There was a pause.

Philip dove in at the opportunity.

“Flower crowns?!”

Was it just Philip, or did that come out a little too manically?

“Hm?”

“For the party!” He exclaimed. Philip internally berated himself to stop exclaiming.

“We could also use some flower crowns. Mom already pre-ordered a bunch of Leis to be delivered for the guests and…” He trailed off.

Gilbert pursed his lip before leaning forward with a grin. “I know this great flower shop that can make it using fresh flowers! They owe me a favor, anyway. Tell me how many are coming, yes? I will bring it.”

“Great. Thanks, Uncle Laf.”

“No problem, mon petit lion.”

**(65)**

“Hey, pretty sure that’s not allowed.”

“No, it totally is, check the rule book.”

“What rule book? We lost that a long time ago.”

“Google it.”

“Call dad.”

“…Eh, same thing.”

**(66)**

“It was great catching up with you, bud! Don’t forget to send me those measurements, okay? The sooner, the better.” Hercules gave Philip a one-armed hug.

“W-Will do, Uncle Herc.”

“Get home safely and make sure to text one of us when you do!” Gilbert ruffled his nephew’s curly hair.

“Will do.”

“This was so much fun, we should most definitely do this more often!”

Philip forced himself to smile. He hoped it was convincing enough.

**(67)**

“...Welcome home, Philip; how are you?” Philip mock-whispered to himself upon finding his siblings sprawled out on the floor playing a board game, his entrance ignored.

“Welcome home, Phil.”

“How are you?”

Alex and James chirped respectively.

Angelica looked up from the board and gave her brother a smile, “So how screwed are we, exactly?”

Philip groaned as he collapsed on the couch, face down.

 “I don’t get why you guys aren’t losing your minds,” Philip murmured, turning his head to the side to peer at his siblings with one eye.

“Oh, trust me, we got all of _that_ out of our systems early on.”

“Yeah, kinda just numb now to all the bad luck that follows you around,” Angelica shrugged as she moved her piece on the board.

“Wish I could say the same,” Philip lamented.

“So, no, seriously, how’d it go? Should we start creating fake identities or what?” Alex sat up to lean over to poke his brother on the cheek.

Philip made as if to bite the offending limb before attempting to shrug, “Pretty sure they know but…”

“But?”

“But I think they’re all for it. Uncle Herc says that they’ll come on the 11th to help out, which is nice, but only after asking when Uncle John’s coming, which is not so nice and obviously...obvious.”

After a pause, Philip continued, “But then again, he did say that it’s been months since he saw him, so maybe it’s not so much the suspicious type of obvious and more like the ‘I obviously just want to spend as much time with my estranged friend’ obvious.”

“…What?” Alex and Ang asked in confusion.

Philip sighed and sat up, “Nothing.”

“So they know?”

“Most likely, yes.”

“But they’re for it?”

“I think so?”

“So…no need to run away and forge new identities?”

“Hard no.”

“Good to know. So, want to be the iron or the wagon?”

 A pause.

“I’ll be the wagon,” Philip sighed as he slid down from the couch to sit cross-legged on the floor.

Angelica handed him some money while Alex snickered as he placed his brother’s piece right on the jail box.

“Hey!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whelp, it's really just the usual excuses, life, classes being an asshole, family, money, etc. etc. -- nothing overwhelmingly bad, just got swept up in it
> 
> not sure when i'll have the time to update again... but i did kinda say early on that this is something that i'm not sure i can finish BUT since i've already got all the major plot points mapped out, i'm pretty sure that the majority of what i write after this is going to be patchy/summary-like that's filled with time-skips (same warnings as the first chapter; don't say you weren't warned! if there's still anybody here left TO warn, haha)
> 
> and trust the hamfam to use monopoly of all things to calm them down and bring them together rather than tear them apart. what's next? a light game of uno before dinner?


End file.
